Galen, Author at Pajama Pants Finance

24Apr 2017 by Galen

Goal Driven Stream Improvement

I was recently watching Maynarde stream some StarCraft 2 when I was struck with inspiration for a post. He’s running a great series on improving in SC2 that translates directly to your business success. If you don’t know Maynarde, he’s an Aussie SC2 caster. I was first introduced to his casting during the original After Hours Gaming League and have followed him since. You should go follow him, he’s great and you'll learn a lot about improvement. Targeted Improvement Anyways, the series he’s doing is based on targeted improvement. The idea is you pick one aspect of your game that needs improvement and you consistently focus on it. In SC2 this could be something like avoiding getting supply capped, scouting effectively, or not floating resources. If you were to look…

17Apr 2017 by Galen

The Balance Sheet for Streamers

Running a Business

How do you know your business is doing well? You certainly can have a gut feeling about how you’re doing or a sense of your growth and what you’re taking in. However, we’d recommend something a little more formal than that. The balance sheet is a snapshot of your business at a particular point in time, usually the end of the year. It should document everything that you own and owe with a goal of showing your net worth. As with the income statement, this can help give you a strong picture of how your business is doing. Are you worth more than you owe? Are you breaking even overall? Could you be investing more in the business to drive later increases in profits? A balance sheet is a great…

10Apr 2017 by Galen

The Income Statement for Streamers

Running a Business

The income statement (sometimes call Profit and Loss) covers a period of time, usually one year. Your income statement should document everything you’ve earned and spent in the year, with a goal of showing your net income. This can be the starting point for your taxes, which can make your life a whole lot easier if you’ve done it well. It also gives you a sense of how well business is going. Are you earning more than you spent? Are you heavily investing? Did you earn enough to support hiring a team member to help you with some tasks? Is each income stream performing like you’d expect? A well-made income statement can help you answer all of those questions. Luckily, it’s not that complex to make an income statement! While…

03Apr 2017 by Galen

Building A Team For Your Stream

Running a Business

No, I don’t mean building a Stream Team on Twitch. I mean building a group of people who will help you run your business most effectively. While most streamers start as a one man or woman shop if you want to grow you’re going to need to outsource some of the work. That’s just a fact of business. You only have so many hours in the day and, more importantly, so much mental energy. If you spend your whole day working on things for your stream will you still be entertaining while you’re live? Let’s look at some of the roles that you might fill. Mods Yes, this one is obvious. If you’re being entertaining or focused on the game you don’t want to have to moderate your chat as…

27Mar 2017 by Galen

The 1099

Taxes

We’ve reached it- the last part of our tax document series. There’s still more tax stuff to talk about (there’s always more tax stuff to talk about!) but this is the last of the relevant documents. Today we’re talking about the 1099. This is the form that you’ll fill out if you paid someone to do something for you (like video editing) and the form that someone will pay if you did contract work for them. Don’t worry, this is a short one! Luckily, if you keep very good records the form itself also only takes a short time to complete. The 1099 If you paid someone over $600 as a contractor not an employee, and let’s be honest here unless you’re really, really big it’s a contractor, you need…

20Mar 2017 by Galen

How Should Streamers Use a Tax Refund?

Personal Finances, Running a Business, Taxes

If you got a tax refund this year, that’s both good and bad news. It’s good news because you got some extra cash that you can use to grow your stream or keep you up and running. It’s bad news because it means that you gave the IRS an interest free loan last year. Would you really give anyone who isn’t family or a really close friend the benefit of a no interest loan? I highly doubt I would. So how can you best use your tax refund to help you improve your business? Let’s take a look. Invest in Your Business You just got a couple of hundred and maybe even a couple thousand dollars. There’s something that you have had your eye on for improving your stream- perhaps…

13Mar 2017 by Galen

Streamer Taxes- The Schedule SE

Running a Business, Taxes

We’re getting to the not so fun part of our series. First, we covered the 1040 which is the basic tax document for individual. Then we talked about the Schedule C, which is where you as a business owner get the chance to get some large tax benefits. Now, we’re going over the Schedule SE. SE stands for self-employment and this is where you fill out your info to calculate how much you owe in self-employment taxes. Boo! Overview We’ve talked about self-employment taxes before but let’s go through a quick refresher. The self-employment tax is the government’s way of making sure you’re still paying for Social Security and Medicare. You may have noticed that on your paychecks from an employer you had a line for FICA deductions. That’s your…

06Mar 2017 by Galen

Streamer Taxes- The Schedule C

Taxes

TAX FORMS HAVE CHANGED SINCE THIS BUT IT'S STILL RELEVANT. Last week we discussed the IRS form 1040 which is the central place for an individual's tax return. This week we're continuing with the Schedule C. As a small business owner you absolutely should not skip over this document unless you really like IRS audits. Hint: you don't like IRS audits! If you're in a partnership, and by that I mean you legally set up a partnership, then this isn't the document for you. You'll need to fill out the K-1. I don't know of many streamers who have partnerships so I'm not planning a full write up on that document. If you'd like to know more about it leave a comment! Overview of Schedule C The Schedule C is…

27Feb 2017 by Galen

Streamer Taxes- The 1040

Taxes

One of the most frustrating things all Americans have to do each year is file their taxes. Shoot, I’m someone who has spent more time than is sane studying taxes and I hate actually going through the process. Unfortunately, as someone earning income from streaming your taxes are going to be more complex than if you just worked for someone else. If you want some tips on your taxes check out our tax basics article and our business class article. Today we’re looking at the basic tax form, the IRS 1040. Overview The 1040 is the form you file for an individual (as opposed to business) tax return. As a streamer, this is the form that you’ll be filling out. If you use something like TurboTax to do it yourself…

20Feb 2017 by Galen

Business Lessons from Gaming Part 2

Running a Business

This is a continuation of last week's post on business lessons that you learned from gaming- even if you didn't realize what you did. Let's hop in to the list! Play to your strengths Personally, I prefer improving upon strengths and outsourcing work you’re weak at to others. That’s not always possible with limited resources but if the opportunity presents itself, play to your strengths. Why would a mage go to the gym when it would do more to practice reading spellbooks? Similarly, would you really say a druid should focus on their gunsmithing? No! As I said in the section on training and upgrades, your strengths are what got you to where you are today. They’ll probably be what pushes you higher in the future. Since you earlier took…

Author: Galen